Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone names the ‘best team in La Liga’

Diego Simeone explained why he rates Barcelona as the ‘best team in La Liga’ after his Atletico Madrid side drew with arch-rivals Real Madrid.

Real Madrid held on to top spot in the Spanish top-flight as Kylian Mbappe’s second-half goal cancelled out Julian Alvarez’s first-half penalty at the Bernabeu.

Atletico were awarded a controversial penalty following a VAR check after Aurelien Tchouameni was adjudged to have fouled Samuel Lino.

Former Manchester City forward Alvarez audaciously chipped the ball down the middle past the diving Thibaut Courtois to silence the home crowd.

A derby win would have sent Atletico Madrid top of La Liga but Mbappe scored an equaliser shortly after the interval with his 16th league goal of the season.

Jude Bellingham’s blocked shot gave Mbappe the chance to level and the England midfielder continued to threaten as Real Madrid chased a winner, hitting the crossbar with a header and seeing a shot saved by Jan Oblak.

The score remained 1-1, however, leaving Real Madrid just one point above Atletico Madrid in the La Liga table and five ahead of Barcelona, who can cut the gap when they visit Sevilla on Sunday.

‘I still insist that Barcelona is the best team in La Liga,’ Simeone said after the Madrid derby.

‘They attack very well, they have incredible speed in their players, and they play very well as a team. Let’s see if they win tomorrow. It’ll be fun to see the journalists enjoy this tight race at the top.’

Discussing his team’s performance in the Madrid derby, Simeone added: ‘I think in the first half, we had a very good first half.